Writing your Resume
Introduction
Together with your cover letter, your resume provides an employer with the information they use to decide whether or not to select you for an
interview. Your resume will usually be one of many viewed by an employer in the selection process, so it is vital that it contains only relevant
information about you, addresses the job requirements, is concise and structured.
Your resume is an opportunity for you to demonstrate to a future employer your written communication skills, in particular your skills in bringing
together information from various sources in order to provide a summary of your background and abilities. These skills should be familiar to you
as they are very similar to the academic skills developed through assembling, drafting and submitting written work during a course.
Resume format
Your resume must be concise; that means that it should be between 2-3 pages for a young graduate and 2-4 pages for a person with significant
work history. Academic resumes may be longer. The information needs to be presented in an organised, logical and coherent fashion.
Key points:

Use a conventional font, e.g. Times New Roman or Arial

Use text size 9 to 12

Use headings and bullet lists

Use plain business English - avoid SMS language, abbreviations, jargon and slang

The formatting must be consistent and clear

Consider converting your resume to .pdf format for consistent formatting

Have plenty of „white space‟ on the page; i.e. have enough space between paragraphs, make sure margins are not too narrow

Check and double check for spelling and grammatical errors; computer spelling and grammar checks are useful but not enough. Have
another person proof-read your resume
Resume styles
(Reverse) Chronological
This is the most common format for resumes and almost certainly the one a recent graduate should start with. On this resume the most recent
experience or education is put first with all other information following in reverse chronological order. Employers tend to prefer this type of resume
as it is easy for them to see your career story. Remember, this is chronological by heading only, you can split your employment experience into
two sections and put “Professional Experience” first so you can highlight relevant information on the front page and put your less relevant casual
jobs on a later page under “General Experience”.
Functional/Combination
Functional resumes are organised by the skills you have developed and are more commonly used by experienced professionals who are career
changing or have had a break in work. That is first part of the resume would highlight the skills and evidence (ie jobs) where you acquired or
developed them and the second part of the resume would give a brief chronology of your work / educational history. In the USA this style of
resume is called a Combination resume; do not confuse these with the USA Functional resumes which are not used in Australia.
Academic
Resumes for academic fellowships, courses or academic related jobs will be different from ordinary chronological resumes in that they should
detail your academic achievements, conference presentations, publications in journals, books and websites etc and projects you have worked on.
They should give an indication of your research area and teaching expertise. Academic resumes are usually longer than all other resume types.
Creative
When applying for jobs within the creative industry it is useful to remember that your resume will also be used as a tool to enable the recruiter
judge of your creative skill, so it is important to include information about accessing your portfolio and examples of your work. In fact it would be
useful to go further and if you were applying for a job as a graphic designer to see your resume as an important graphic design project, but
remember not to let the design overwhelm and make it hard for a hiring manager to find out the information they need.
Resume content
Personal details
Include your first and last name, residential address, postal address (if different from residential), home phone number, mobile phone number
(make sure any phone-busy message is professional), and e-mail address (avoid humorous, nickname-based terminology). If you are applying
for overseas jobs, you may need to include international codes and provide your citizenship and/or Permanent Resident status.
Education
For each qualification include the full and correct qualification title, institution name, majors, minors and dates of completion or expected
completion. You could include up to three relevant subjects (only if relevant), but don‟t list all subjects as these will be available in your academic
transcripts. Include your GPA or average result, if they are credit average or better. The qualifications should be presented in reverse
chronological order (i.e. most recent listed first). Including your year 12 details is optional, but common for young graduates.
Awards
Include any awards or scholarships you have attained. For recent graduates, don‟t go back further than year 11, for older graduates it is not usual
to include any school awards. The awards so not have to be academic, they can be any area such as sport, music, community involvement.
Professional Development
List other relevant courses or professional development you have completed
Employment history
List jobs in reverse chronological order (unless writing a functional resume). For each job, include the job title, organisation‟s name, period of
employment and your key responsibilities.
Any course-related employment should be prominently listed. Consider dividing your employment section into „Professional Experience‟ and
„General Experience‟. General jobs should be included if you have little course related work experience; employers can gain valuable information
about your general skills from your part-time/casual employment. It is not necessary to include all your past jobs; the test is to determine whether
those other jobs demonstrate any of the employability skills (outlined above) and/or the criteria sought by the employer.
Voluntary and community work
Previous or current participation in community work, clubs, sport or youth groups can demonstrate your strong willingness to use your initiative or
leadership skills, interpersonal and organisational skills. Employers value people who are worldly, culturally aware, independent and mature.
Detail your involvement with organisations, making sure you highlight any particular responsibilities or achievements.
Skills
Highlight your relevant skills and attributes under a separate heading; include both technical skills (also called job specific skills) and
employability skills (also called transferable or general skills). Technical skill could include: research skills gained through academic programs;
management skills gained through supervisory positions, etc. Employability skills consist of: communication, team work, problem solving, initiative
and enterprise, planning and organising, learning, using technology and self-management.
Each skill needs to be substantiated with a short example that proves your claim. It is essential that you can communicate effectively any skill
mentioned with vocational, educational or extra-curricular experiences.
Employers will be looking for evidence of your academic and employability skills from your: academic performance, employment and extracurricular activities, incorporating involvements on and off campus. More information about Employability Skills is available at
www.careers.monash.edu.
Professional associations and affiliations
Include memberships (they may be associate or student memberships) of professional bodies that are relevant to your studies or industry, this is
a very efficient way of indicating your long-standing interest and commitment to a profession or industry.
Interests/Hobbies
Employers are usually interested in you 'the person'; they will be curious to know about your talents or hobbies. Your interests can also be an
icebreaker, a good talking point in an interview situation. You can include information on personal interests, particularly if they involve group/team
activities such as community, sporting, or cultural pursuits.
Referees
The final part of your resume should list two or three individuals who can provide a reference on your behalf. Include their name, position title,
organisation and contact details. Referees should have witnessed your capabilities in an employment or academic environment, and have the
authority to provide a prospective employer with credible comments. Ensure it is clear as to how you know them, if they have moved on from your
mutual workplace for example include a note in brackets to clarify (eg. Previously Supervisor at Coles)
Do not use personal friends, family members and non-work or non-academic associates as referees.
Make sure you have sought permission from these people before listing them as referees.
An alternative approach is to omit details of referees on your resume but state that referees are available on request.
careers.monash.edu
[email protected]
+61 3 9905 4170
Facebook.com/MonashECD
Resume Checklist
General Impression
Your resume is tailored to the job advertisement and includes skills asked for in the
advertisement
An appropriate style has been used – chronological, functional, academic, combination
All sections of the resume are in a logical order
The information is grouped correctly with appropriate headings
Format
Margins of the page are an appropriate width (eg. 2cm – 2.5cm)The resume is between 2-4 pages (or in line
with the employer‟s requested length)
A consistent style, layout and design is followed
Your resume is easy to skim read, with clear layout and enough white space on each page
Your resume is between 2-4 pages or in line with the employer‟s requested length
Short statements and bullet points rather than lengthy paragraphs have been used
The dot points and indents line up throughout the document
Font is consistent and uses an appropriate size and style
eg. Size 10-12, Arial, Times New Roman or other clear and legible font style
Headers and/or footers with page numbers and your name are used
Page breaks are well placed to avoid split lists
Language
Your resume has a positive tone. Positive action words are used
No abbreviations are used (such as B.Bus, &, eg)
1-10 are written as words not symbols. Acronyms are written in full when first used
Your resume has not used first person singular (I) or first person plural (we) or third person
(he/she, his/her)
Has not used inappropriate use of own name, especially within career objective or examples
Spelling is of a satisfactory standard
Grammar is of a satisfactory standard
Punctuation is of a satisfactory standard
careers.monash.edu
[email protected]
+61 3 9905 4170
Facebook.com/MonashECD
Content
Irrelevant information has NOT been included:
Date of birth, marital status, nationality, religion, health and number of children have not
been included
Education includes:
Dates (to and from)
Title of the qualification/s
Institution studied with
Majors/minors
Achievements
Professional development includes:
Examples include - Certificates and training relevant to the industry
Dates (to and from)
Title of the certificate/training
Institution studied with
Employment includes:
Dates
Title of your position
Name of the organisation
Responsibilities
Specific achievements in this role
Skills summary includes:
Skills the employer wants are clearly mentioned
Skills related to the position applied for have been listed
Relevant transferable skills (example: leadership, teamwork, communication) are mentioned
Specific examples of experiences to demonstrate your skills are listed
Professional memberships includes:
Name of the organisation
Type of membership
Level of participation
Awards and achievements includes:
Dates (to and from)
Title of the award/achievement
Name of the organisation who generated the award
Optional – a short sentence explaining the criteria for receiving the award (especially if
awarded for academic excellence)
Extra-curricular activities / voluntary work / interests includes:
Dates (to and from)
Name of the activities / voluntary work / interest
Name of the organisation
Type of membership (if applicable)
Level of participation
Referees includes:
Two to three referees with their name, job title, organisation, phone number and e-mail
address
OR stated that are available on request
General enquiries
T: 9905 4170
E: [email protected]
W: careers.monash.edu.au
Disclaimer: Information was current at the
time of writing and is intended as a guide only.
Adapted by Monash University Employment
and Career Development, 2011
careers.monash.edu
[email protected]
+61 3 9905 4170
Facebook.com/MonashECD